We sat down with composer Nathan Matthew David to talk about scoring Forgotten Island -- and how he drew on his own Filipino heritage, and a research trip back to the Philippines, to blend traditional folk music with modern synth pop for the film's soundtrack.

Lauren, Mike, Michael, and Swara review the latest film out now from Dreamworks, Forgotten Island, directed and written by Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford and starring H.E.R. and Liza Soberano

I just completed one play-through of Insomniac's Wolverine. Similar to my main takeaway from the Spider-Man games, and this opinion stands slightly apart from feelings about video games and Marvel on the whole, the main thought is: Dang, they totally nailed the X-Men.

This week at the NOC: Brad Bird gets a two-part deep dive for Ray Gunn, LAIKA opens its doors for Wildwood, Mike and Lauren hit a historic red carpet for Forgotten Island, LEGO Pokémon lands in L.A., and the Dark Matter/Pearl Jam recaps continue.

We were there as Forgotten Island made history as the first film to world premiere at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art -- and as the first Hollywood animated film centered on Filipino culture. We bring you our red carpet conversations with the cast and crew, including Jo Koy, H.E.R., Harvey Guillén, and directors Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford.

This week’s Dark Matter recap goes off-script in the best way, following an alternate Jason’s years-long detour through grief, family, and reluctant love -- all set to Pearl Jam’s “Upper Hand.” We’re calling it one of the most moving episodes of genre TV we’ve seen all year.

Pokémon celebrates its 30th Anniversary, and The LEGO Group is celebrating by launching the LEGO Pokémon SMART Play Experience in Los Angeles. What exactly is SMART Play technology? Using cutting-edge technology, SMART Play items – SMART Brick, SMART Tags, and SMART Minifigures – respond to the way you play with them, using interactive sound and lights. According to LEGO, “when you play, the SMART Brick plays back.” Those living in Los Angeles have the opportunity to try out the LEGO Pokémon SMART Play Experience this weekend – September 26-27 – at the Americana at Brand in Glendale.

Brad Bird and longtime collaborator Michael Giacchino open up about their decades-long creative partnership, the hand-drawn animation Bird still champions, and what it finally took to get Ray Gunn made.

Nearly 30 years in the making, Brad Bird's Ray Gunn blends Buck Rogers pulp with Maltese Falcon-style noir, and we got an inside look at the character design, world-building, and cinematography behind it.

We sat down with Wildwood’s costume designer, character FX lead, rapid prototyping director, production designer, and head of animation to talk puppets, invention, and the challenges of bringing LAIKA’s next film to life.

This week: Dark Matter’s Leighton breaks down his many faces, Tony Weaver Jr. on manga over Marvel and DC, Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift’s supercharged media day, a Resident Evil review, a visit to LAIKA ahead of Wildwood, a summer of first-time horror watches, and a chat with Dominic Mah about his new novel JQK.

We caught up with Wildwood writer Chris Butler, along with stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, to find out how LAIKA’s next film found its voice.

Dark Matter episode four takes its cue from Pearl Jam’s “Won’t Tell,” and we dig into how the song’s themes of doubt and self-forgiveness echo through Jason2 and Amanda’s reconciliation, Leighton’s guilt, and Daniela and Jason’s crumbling retro-world marriage.

During Media Day for the opening of Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift, we had the opportunity to speak with Jon Corfino, Vice President of Universal Creative at Universal Studios Hollywood.

We went behind the scenes at LAIKA’s Hillsboro, Oregon studio for an up-close look at how the artists, animators, and craftspeople behind Wildwood are bringing Portland’s own enchanted forest to stop-motion life.

In this special NOC Conversation, we sat down with Tony Weaver Jr. to talk about the stories that shaped him, the power of representation, Black boyhood and masculinity, and why young people deserve the freedom to discover who they are beyond the expectations placed on them.

After six films and one reboot, Sony Pictures gave the iconic video game franchise another chance, this time by handing the reins to Zach Cregger and letting him approach Resident Evil less as a direct adaptation and more as a survival-horror experience.

The long-awaited opening of Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift has finally arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood. From early morning rides, to a reception and a chain-cutting ceremony, the day was filled with all things Fast and Furious.

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We spent the summer catching up on horror classics we'd somehow never seen -- from The Lost Boys and Queen of the Damned to The Craft and Lisa Frankenstein -- and came away with a lot of thoughts on all four.

Season two of Dark Matter splits its central antagonist across the multiverse. We caught up with Dayo Okeniyi to talk about playing multiple versions of Leighton Vance, the corrupting nature of unchecked power, and why the season's villain isn't as simple as he looks.

Zod coaches Superman in the first trailer for Mr. Irrelevant. We break down what Paramount's new tearjerker has in store ahead of its Christmas release.

Episode 3 of Dark Matter season 2 commits to the Pearl Jam bit and name checks the song "Wreckage" — while the Dessens settle into retro-world life, Ryan and Amanda finally make it home (sort of), and a familiar face turns up outside Jason's window.

At D23 Expo 2026, we sat down with Gameloft's Riley Wignall and Joshua Labelle to talk mermaids, pirates, and Milo Thatch ahead of Disney Dreamlight Valley's next expansion, The Keepsake Sea.

We sat down once more with Forgotten Island directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado to dig into the friendship, inspirations, and Filipino roots behind their new DreamWorks film ahead of its September 25 release.

Jamarcus Rose and Da 5 Bullet Holes is a film about how dreams can be snuffed out in an instant. We spoke to writer/director Marcellus Cox about the film, his personal experiences surrounding the topic covered in the film, and what he hopes others take away from it.

Halloween Horror Nights opened to an epic eight-house event this past Thursday. We were hosted by Universal Studios and invited to the Media Night opening to check out each haunted house, the theme park's spooky scare zones, the revamped Terror Tram: Starring Art the Clown, and more.

We sat down once more with Forgotten Island stars Liza Soberano and H.E.R., plus Dave Franco, now that we've finally seen the finished film, to dig deeper into the secrets of DreamWorks Animation's newest release.

This week, we go deep on Lanterns and Forgotten Island, take a look at a doc about Disney animator Ron Husband, recap Dark Matter and chat with its star Alice Braga, break down the new Street Fighter trailer, and welcome back Shelf Conscious with toy YouTuber and artist Ibrahim Moustafa.

At D23 Expo, we sat in on the panel for Don Hahn's Huz: Drawn to Life, a Disney+ documentary following longtime animator Ron Husband -- a look at perseverance, mentorship, and the Black artists who helped shape Disney Animation.

Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, Forgotten Island may draw inspiration from The Hangover, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and even Turning Red, but it never feels content to simply imitate them.

Episode 2 of Dark Matter season 2, "A Perfect World," finds its Pearl Jam parallel in "React, Respond" -- as the Council of Leightons expands its reach, Ryan and Amanda train for what's coming, and Jason's retro-world detective turns out to be a familiar face.

The newest Street Fighter trailer takes a closer look at Ryu and Ken's storyline and the complex world of tournament fighting. Outside of the tournaments, the cast has kicked off its world tour in Japan with stops across Tokyo, including Sensō-ji Temple.

Shelf Conscious is back from the dead! To resurrect the show, Keith sits down with one of his favorite YouTube creators and collectors, Ibrahim Moustafa -- a world-renowned comic book artist whose graphic novel RetroActive is currently in development at Hulu, and who you may also recognize from a recent stop on the Middle Geeks podcast.

We caught up with Dark Matter star Alice Braga to talk about season 2's uncharted territory -- there's no second novel to adapt this time -- her real friendship with author Blake Crouch, and the guilt Amanda carries into the new season.

DreamWorks Animation's first film rooted in Filipino culture and mythology, Forgotten Island, is a triumph. We caught up with directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, and stars Liza Soberano and Manny Jacinto, at a special screening ahead of its September 25 release.

J. Alphonse Nicholson and Jasmine Cephas Jones on Lanterns' backstory-heavy third episode, and what it means to raise a Black son to become a superhero.

Despite a mighty and delightful ensemble cast, the Play On Shakespeare's modern verse translation of William Shakespeare's Pericles at Boston Court Pasadena is a bit of a head-scratcher.

As Lanterns gears up for its third episode, we go inside a special panel with episode writer Vanessa Baden Kelly and stars Jasmine Cephas Jones and J. Alphonse Nicholson on adapting John Stewart's origins for today.

This week, we remember Peter Cullen -- plus a Dark Matter recap, a Halloween Time at Disneyland preview, reviews of Batman: Knightfall, Colony, and It Ends, and a Lanterns cast and composer interview.

Apple TV's Dark Matter returns for a second season, and we're recapping it episode by episode -- pairing each installment with a corresponding track from Pearl Jam's Dark Matter album, kicking off with the season premiere.

Halloween Time returns to Disneyland Resort with new Mickey and Friends costumes, a fresh lineup of spooky snacks, and a taste test of the best seasonal bites at Disney California Adventure Park.

Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan is undoubtedly one of the best zombie films ever made. With his latest, Colony, he injects the idea of collective evolution with the zombies in a much more action-packed scenario that packs a lot of entertaining and terrifying tension even if logic falls apart tremendously halfway through the film.

Alexander Ullom's cosmic horror road trip traps four recent graduates on an endless highway, turning post-graduation drift into an unexpectedly effective metaphor for growing up and growing apart.

As Forgotten Island nears its theatrical release, we make the case for why DreamWorks' Filipino-led animated film deserves the same excitement and cultural moment that KPop Demon Hunters got.

Last week I reviewed HBO's new Green Lantern show Lanterns, which filled me with delight and questions. I got to pose some of those questions to cast members Kelly MacDonald, Garrett Dillahunt and Poorna Jagannathan, as well as the show's composer Stephanie Economou. Check out our spoiler-free interviews below:

In the first film of the Batman: Knightfall animated trilogy, director Jeff Wamester and screenwriter Jeremy Adams, with Warner Bros. Animation, have crafted one of the greatest Batman films of all time.

D23 coverage all week, plus interviews with the Outer Banks cast, Camp Rock 3's Casey Trotter, and The End of Oak Street's Jordan Alexa Davis -- and reviews of Coyote vs. Acme, Slava Ukraini!, The Samurai and the Prisoner, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and why Laika's Wildwood is one to watch.

This morning, to prepare fans for Avengers: Doomsday, Disney and Marvel Studios has announced the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast to be hosted The Basement Yard’s biggest nerd, Frank Alvarez and the MCU’s biggest nerd, Ms. Marvel herself, Iman Vellani.

Laika’s Wildwood is a bold, big-swing stop-motion epic — and a defiant statement about handcrafted artistry in an industry increasingly tempted by AI shortcuts.